Senator Portilla, R-Miami, Threatens to Kill Open Carry Bill

Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)- Senator Diaz de la Portilla has been the main obstacle to restoring some open carry rights to Florida. He refused to let a bill out of committee in 2015. The bill has been reintroduced in 2016. Now that the bill has overwhelmingly passed the house, he has become more vocal with his threats. From cbslocal.com:

Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, said on Monday that he had grown uneasy with the proposal. The House passed its version of the bill last week after adding an amendment that would allow state lawmakers to carry sidearms into legislative meetings.

“I am concerned that it may become a vehicle for some very, very bad amendments. I think that’s what we learned last week,” Diaz de la Portilla said. “Because of those concerns, I’m very, very seriously considering not hearing it at all.”

Portilla seems to be throwing excuses against the wall to see if any of them will stick. The last one was that he was afraid that people exercising their Second Amendment rights would scare tourists. It is hard for that one to be credible, when 45 other states have the same or more freedom to exercise Second Amendment rights.

The House voted 80 to 38 to pass the open carry reform. The Senate seems to have majority support for the bill, if it would get out of the Judiciary committee that Portilla controls.

45 states have open carry of holstered handguns. 30 of those states do not require a license to carry. The mild reform that Senator Portilla is holding up requires a license for open carry in Florida. A case before the Florida Supreme Court argues that the lack of the ability to legally open carry, with or without a license, violates the Second Amendment.

Florida had open carry until 1987, when the shall issue concealed carry bill was passed. The shall issue bill has been wildly successful, with 1.5 million people having permits. Their crime rate is a small fraction of that of police. From yourobserver.com:

Consider, too, these facts, courtesy of Rep. Steube: “After 28 years of data in Florida, licensed conceal-permit holders are six times less likely to commit a crime than law enforcement officers. Specifically, permit holders only commit misdemeanors and felonies at a rate of .0002% annually.”

Janet Reno, known for her role in the Waco massacre, was State Attorney for Date County at the time. Miami is essentially Dade County. She created a government led coalition to lobby for an open carry ban. She was able to have the ban passed in a special session without going through the usual committee or public vetting processes. It has been in place ever since, though there have been several attempts at reform.

It is not surprising that another Miami politician is blocking the reform now. The surprise is that he is a Republican.

If open carry dies in 2016, this will be the second year that Senator Portillo has been instrumental in killing it. Some credit should be given to the Republican Senate leadership, who assigned the bill to his committee.

c2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch

About Dean Weingarten;

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.

This rat from Miami certainly must not be of Cuban descent. Cubans ran from oppression and are still running to Florida because their homeland is a Communist dictatorship, where a civilian posessing a gun will forever be imprisoned. Portilla must be a Communist of Cuban descent, because we all know that its Communists that oppose guns in the hands of the people.

Texas open carry laws that went into effect on January 1 to allow residents with concealed gun permits to keep their guns in plain view as long as it is in a belt or shoulder holster but the state still bans them in correctional facilities, polling places, schools, and some establishments where alcohol is served.

Open carry in Florida should be fashioned in a similar manner, and of course it is legal in 45 other states in one fashion of another. If we are going to say that the police still need guns because law breakers will still carry guns, then we are conceding that society is still an armed and potentially dangerous place despite our laws and that the law abiding citizen should be afforded the same means of protection as well. This senator should be recalled, one person should not be able to go against members of the FL House approval or the 1.4 million FL concealed (CCW) holders. Start a impeach him campaign.

D.alfonso your ignorance is shameful. Your typically CCW permit holder is likely much more knowledgeable than you are given the training required. CCW holders are not just law-abiding citizens wanting to protect what’s theirs. They in all likelihood will protect you from a criminal wishing to do you harm. You can choose to not carry that’s your option. So don’t tell us we what we can or can not do. Makes you look like a communist Tortilla. Oh and make sure if you don’t want to be near CCW holders, you frequent only those places with window signs inviting criminals in that say, NO CCW ALLOWED… See you at the morgue David

It is time to start calling these jackwagon comunists what they are TRAITORS. At the local level start filing charges against these idiots, for violating their oath and constitutional right violations. GET OFF YOU ASSES and do something keyboard warrirors.

David Alfonso – sir you are the problem with this country. You do not Have to carry a gun – that is your Choice. I choose to carry a gun. You and your Hillary buddies need to have shirts printed: “I am NOT CARRYING A GUN, I am against CCW”. That way those of us that carry will not come to your assistance when you Need a gun!